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wayfayrr · 10 months ago

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Here is the menace with your chosen word Farewell. So gather 'round, sit back, relax and please stay in your seat. Kick your feet up and grab some popcorn. Oh, and of course, lest we not forget, enjoy the show.

Now here is a Reader, that one of the boys is looking for, what seems like for millennias. This is Navi!Reader.

Instead of Navi, Time called them Reader.

They have blue wings and they change colour depending on their emotions.

Their glow also changes it's colour depending on their emotion.

Red is anger/ worried.

Yellow is focused/ determined.

Green is happy/ sick (like when you spin to often).

White is fear.

Blue is calm.

Pink is embarrassed/ flustered.

With that they are one of the very few fairies that doesn't have white wings and glow pink. And now the only one.

Beneath the light Reader wears a blue toga with green ends and a Sakura petal pattern, that petals 🌸, with golden a vein-like belt and pair of shoes, which looks more like an accessory than shoes.

They are the last fairy of the Kokiri and knows what happened to them.

They also saw how the Kroks came to life.

They hide inside the Deku Tree since they left Time as a child.

Sage found them as he slept inside the Deku Tree, since then he always has them around.

They call him "my little Zonai".

He knows that they went through something horrible and they told him about the time travels, the Kokiri, the Kroks. But they left Time out, as he maybe wanted to keep his privacy.

They feel incredibly guilty for leaving Time behind, but they had to.

If they wouldn't come back to the Deku Tree after their purpose was fulfilled they would've died in Time's hands.

I'd like to believe that Reader is Time's first love. He only got along with Saria for as long as he can remember, but then there comes Reader. His very own Fairy the very thing that caused him of being an outcast as he didn't had one.

Since then Reader was with him, nevermind if it was underwater or in a volcano. Reader was by his side and is the only one who REALLY knows how Time feels as they also got kicked back in time before Ganondorf attacked.

Reader was his partner, friend and guide. They teached him how to hold the sword and shield properly. They told him about the monsters around him and how to kill them easily or their weaknesses or helped him focus by flying around the monster's weak points. So he can kill them easier or that his shot is more accurate.

As a fairy they are immortal as long as they have a purpose they don't die beyond the borders of the Lost Woods, if their purpose allows them to cross it.

They love sweets and kinda act like a hummingbird as they normally ate/ drank(?) sweet nectar from the forest flowers.

They are scared of Skulltulas and they got stuck in their webs a few times in the Forest Temple and the old Deku Tree.

Time was their very first friend and so they always hope that he lives a good life.

If anyone would've told them that he went into the Lost Woods to look for them. They would be happy and disappointed as they don't want him to hold onto them.

They were his mouth for the first instances as he was too overwhelmed with everything, from being destined to purge the evil to stepping outside of the forest. He was just shy at first as he never met adults so they talked for him until he got the courage to do it himself!

They call him "my Kokiri".

Their Song is "Airplanes" from BOB feat Hayley Williams and Eminem.

How they met/reunited.

Reader's PoV:

I flew around searching that idiot who put me in a bottle! I flew around and saw him, Link. I was seeing red and completely disregarded the group that was talking to him.

„YOU IDIOT LINK! I APPRECIATE YOUR CONCERN BUT DON'T PUT ME IN A BOTTLE!! I ALMOST DIED AS IT SHATTERED!! I AM IMMORTAL BUT THAT ONLY MEANS THAT I CAN'T DIE OF AGE NOT INJURIES!! YOU IDIOT! MORON!! FOOL!!!“ I stomped with my foot the air in anger and he looked at me surprised and shocked.

„Sorry? But how should I protect you?! You are a frail and tiny fairy!! I thought you are safe in there!!“

„I WAS WITH ONE HERO ALREADY!! I WAS WITH HIM THROUGH HIS WHOLE JOURNEY!!! I KNOW, HOW TO DODGE ATTACKS AND AVOID MONSTERS!!! I DID IT MULTIPLE TIMES!! YES, I'M SMALL BUT DOESN'T MEAN I'M HELPLESS, LINK!!!“ I screamed at him but he didn't budge.

„But you don't know how the monsters here are you hid inside the Deku Tree for millennias! You saw more of the changes of Hyrule than all of Hyrule together! And You where only inside the Lost Woods! In your little house!!“

„Uhm... Excuse me?“ Our heads snap to the interrupting Hylian and screamed unison.

„WHAT?! DON'T JUST INTERRUPT OUR CONVERSATION!!“ but the Hylian just looked at me.

„Reader, is that you?“ he came nearer to us.

„That's my name how do you know... Wait a minute...“ I flew around him and his eyes looked so hopeful and scared at the same time.

But this sparkles in his eyes as he looked at me. I immediately knew who it was and hugged his cheek.

„Link?! The little Link!? My Kokiri!!“ he held his hands carefully around me, in fear to hurt me or that I will disappear any second.

„Reader it's really you! I thought, I will never see you again!“

„Me neither. As my purpose was fulfilled, I had to go back to the Woods or I would've died in your little hands and I didn't want that! So how have you been? You look so tall compared from the last time I saw you and I see you have sons! Many of them.“ one of the hero's children spit out his water or whatever he was drinking and was coughing roughly.

„They are not my children, Reader! Twilight is my descendant but the others aren't mine.“

„Twilight? You were never good with name giving were you?“ I shook my head disapprovingly.

„It's not like that! We all are called Link and Twilight is the Hero of Twilight that's why he has that nickname!“

„Ohhh... Sorry, just thought as they look a bit like you, especially the young one, his eyes promise that he is a gremlin like you.“ the man before me began to blush.

„Stop that!“

„Wait! You were with Time as he was child?“ asked one of the boys, he had a white cape with the Master Sword on his back.

„Well, kind of. I heard much about him from other fairies but also witnessed it myself. I was with that little Kokiri since the beginning of his journey and travelled through time with him.“ I looked at my now hero who looked shocked at me.

„You never told me, you were the guide of the Hero of Time!“ I tilted my head.

„Well, I wanted to respect Link's privacy and I was confused as I didn't know if you knew him as the Hero of Time or not. As we got send back in time and it was before Ganondorf tried to get the Triforce. So I didn't know how to explain that part very well. I'm really sorry, my little Zonai!“ I flew towards the young man with difficulty as my Kokiri didn't want to let me go but he just hugged me.

„I'm not mad and never would be. You've been through so much so I forgive now come we have to go. Hyrule doesn't save itself.“ he smiled something he did very rarely nowadays but it seem off like their was something sinister and possessive behind it. But my purpose was to travel with him and help him open his heart!

„Okay... See you again my Kokiri. I'm sure of it and it was a pleasure to met the other heroes and your descendant!“ I waved with a green yellow glow before following my Zonai who walked away but I didn't see his smug smirk or the glare that Kokiri gave the Zonai.

After the Zonai defeated the Demon Dragon I was about to fly back to the Deku Tree as my purpose was fulfilled but Link put me into a bottle again.

„Link! Let Me Out!!“

„I can't do that you will leave me again!!“

„Please! I have to go back to the Woods! You can visit me but please let me go!!!“ I sounded desperate as I felt my strength dwindling.

„NO! I WANT YOU WITH ME!! YOU WERE WITH ME!!!“

„This time you don't pack up and leave like back then Reader! I should have put you in a bottle back then.“ My Kokiri... His voice sounded so stern...

My consciousness disappeared more and more that I would wake up and fall back in the black every now and then.

„Reader...?“ I didn't know who spoke but it was like I could hear the bottle opening but I already lied there on the bottom of the bottle I was to weak.

I only felt how I fell out of the bottle into a hand. „Woods... I... Need... To... The... Woods...“ I whispered and suddenly I hear the two which normally fought the most running for their or my life.

Then I got snatched into the hand of another hero he gave me sugar water but that only kept me alive for a little while longer. Then he took of running again. He was definitely faster than the other two. But I didn't know if we could make it to the Lost Woods in time. Then I felt the familiar fog around me and I got my strength back.

„Ah... You came back, my child of the past.“ I sat up in the hands and looked at the Great Deku Tree.

„Sorry... For the delay... Had some... Challenges to conquer...“ I breathed in and out before turning to my hero, which was the Hero of Legends.

I kissed his cheek before circling around him. „Thank you! You are my hero!! If you wouldn't got me here, I would have died!!“

He got little red in embarrassment as the heroes didn't get much gratitude and appreciation but he nodded. So I flew to the Deku Tree.

„Purpose fulfilled, Great Deku Tree. The evil was purged and the hero is save and sound with the princess! So mission was successfully accomplished!!“ I said cheerfully.

„Can I ask something?“ said the hero.

„Of course, young hero. What can I do for you?“

„Is it possible that Reader can come with us? They know more about the shadow than any of us. They just have to see him and know as what he is hiding. We really need that help.“

„I understand. Reader get the light.“

„Really but Deku Tree that should be kept hidden until the world needs it again!“ I called out to him.

„I know young one, but you are the only being here old enough to use it and move. So your new task is to help this heroes with the light.“

„Understood, Deku Tree! I will go and get it!“ I disappeared into the Deku Tree and up to the crown, where I found the Minish hiding like me.

I didn't have to say anything. The little creatures gave me the Force. It may be not as strong as the Triforce but its for use for the heroes. I hoped, that these two calmed down by now. The light disappeared into my body and my body lighten up as I grew. My wings were bigger same with my body. It was strange but my shine was now dimmer, that means they would be able to see my toga I HAVE NO UNDERWEAR!! Good, flying is now forbidden Reader!! I stepped out of the Deku Tree and only saw the heroes standing on the resting place of the Master Sword with their jaws dropped, wide eyes and red.

„Seems like you still have a guide my dear heroes. I'm Reader, your fairy guide! If you have any questions just ask away!“ I said with a wink and a mock salute.

That's how they got Navi!Reader in their group until they fulfilled their task. But the Chain will find a way to keep them with the group until then. That's also the only Chain where Sage kinda listens to Time. Well, mostly because of Reader as Time was their partner in the past and they wouldn't be happy if they would fight. But as soon as all of them fall in love they will also notice that Reader doesn't fly as much as usual. Well as soon they find out the why, they are red with a nosebleed while Reader is screeching in embarrassment and explain that as a fairy they never needed things like underwear. Well, Wild hopes for a try again for his camera, Sage too. Wind wants them as his guide like Time, maybe with a little puppy crush. But at the end they try to solve the issue with the Triforce that Reader doesn't die when they leave the border of the Lost Woods. But Reader doesn't understand courting traditions from the Hylian as they are a Fairy. But Hyrule as a half Fae so he has more modern versions of Fairy courtship. So he is the only one who gets Reader to understand that they are being courted. But the others will see that and do the same, which confuses them dearly as it's a very sudden change in their opinion.

Navi!reader is an interesting concept, seeing as there is going to be one hero with a giant attachment to them first and foremost.

Time, if he gets the chance is never going to let them go ever. especially now that they have a more hylian form and can

#sorry I didn't respond for ages #I have been busyyyyyyy #using my queue till it emptied #cause I was on holiday lmao (got this when I was on the train but didn't have time to respond)#also I know it's only a couple lines here but as a gentle reminder #please don't include sage in asks #that's my only request #if I get any asks with sage in from this point onward I will be deleting them with no hesitation.#because I have both warned you and put it in my rules now.#and the fact that you still referring to totk link as sage despite my very clear stance is starting to bother me.#it's also why this response was short.#moss✦answers #yandere linked universe #yandere linked universe x reader #yandere link

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wonder-worker · 10 months ago

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"Administratively, too, [...] queens were considered the legal lords of their landholdings. [...] Grants noted that the queen's officials had administrative autonomy without being subject to the king or anyone else, and evidence of the same assumption can be gleaned from court rolls that were recorded with headings indicating the lord of the manor whose court proceedings were being enrolled. As an example, some court rolls for the manor of Haveringatte-Bower specified that it was the court of [Margaret of Anjou] that was in session, while later rolls recorded Elizabeth Woodville as the lord of the manor court."

— Michele Seah, "My Lady Queen, the Lord of the Manor': The Economic Roles of Late Medieval Queens", Parergon, Volume 37, Number 2, 2020.

#queenship tag #margaret of anjou #elizabeth woodville #I really appreciated how Seah acknowledged the uneven surviving evidence for her subjects and how that affects her analysis.#It was very brief but it was more than what most historians do so it was very refreshing :)#my post #english history #this is for @ anon who asked if its true that Margaret mostly hosted her own courts while EW mostly stayed with her husband #I'm not sure which (if any) historian has said something like this* but I highly doubt it's true !#We don't really have solid itineraries in place for either queen to make any kind of firm conclusions of the sort #(ie: about their residences or anything else) though I'm sure it would have varied depending on the situation #But either way it's explicitly clear that both Margaret and Elizabeth held their own courts in their own lands on multiple occasions #And we also have evidence of both of them residing with their husbands in regular circumstances #*tbh this is too long to get into right now but this assumption does fit into the few 'revisionist' interpretations of both Margaret and EW #(which imo is just as degrading as her traditional interpretation for the latter) so I wouldn't be surprised if some #historians may have framed their situations in such a way and relied entirely on their own assumptions to do so #Either way as far as I know there is no evidence of any such contrast existing - at least not on a consistent basis.#and the evidence we do have contradicts the assumption #Hope this helps! I figured a proper excerpt from this article would clarify the point better than any direct answer from me <3 #queue

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selfship-confession-box · 4 months ago

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🍊⚙️ mod, I don't know if you've ever been told this but I love the little statements you leave in the tags occasionally. I really like selfship confession blogs that respond to things(which I completely understand can be a hard thing in general with so many asks, nonetheless ones that can be upsetting and it's not restricted to being just lighthearted confessions), but it's hard for me to find confession blogs that do that. One of the few that I did find that responded to things they didn't even respond, they'd respond with things like "this is irrelevant to the ask but I am so tired today" and it bugged me a little cause like... why respond at all then?? I'm not throwing shade or anything to the blogger, it's just like opening a little goody bag to me to see what you've typed in the tags.

Anon you have no idea how happy this makes me (the way I IMMEDIATELY went to fawn over it to the other mods helpp hehee)

I was a bit nervous about it at first, actually, since it seems like I do it for every post I queue, but after seeing how positively people have responded to it so far, I'm like. Whehawhew!!! y'know?! <3

Consequence of being, and I quote in my very own words from (probably earlier than) Sept. 23rd, "unapologetically A Yapper" <3

#hehe a little inspired by the amount of back and forth I'd have with ⭐️ mod on my own asks. I always loved the engagement. So me doing that #while I answer them as a mod myself now. Feels only natural. I hope to strike that same feeling for everyone else too. :3 #idk. if i can improve the day of at least one person through my silly commentary then my job is done I think <3 #also idk if you guys can tell which ones I queued otherwise if I don't add commentary #but any I don't say smth on just know I probably said 'REAAAALLL' on out loud instead. /silly #and honestly? working on desktop kinda has an advantage for me in regards to me (trying) to comment on all the asks we get. I love it #I find it fun. idk. I just like doing this. Got that 'Clearing out our entire queue in one go because it's mostly repetitive motions' tism/#This is getting sappy and long. I love this community and being able to give back by being a shoulder to lean on. Means a lot to me <3 #... I swear Oscar if you edit this to call me a nerd I'm going to GET YOU /SILLY-🍊⚙️#self ship #self shipping community #selfshipping community #selfship #self shipper #self shipping #self ship community #selfship community #f/o #f/os

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ask-shane · 10 months ago

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Girl, are you always online? You literally keep answering us lot.. have a break pookie, you need it 🤭

(Ps. Love you, married you in every world and also being u a beer as I write this ❤️)

you calling me chronically online?

most of my posts are scheduled… they’ll publish even when i’m offline to make it look like i’m posting regularly. if not that, then i post a ton of ‘em in one sitting and call it a night.

#ask-shane 🐓#when i answer asks— i answer a bunch at once—then schedule them so that they’ll publish even when i’m offline #(i use the queue feature on tumblr)#I PROMISE I’M NOT ALWAYS ONLINE LMAOO 😭#I MUST CLEAR MY NAME 😫#AND SHANES…

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lanternritefestival · 2 months ago

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@ask-sunset-guild

Woah... Impressive spot you've got here. Any reason why this island in particular? I gotta admit, the name is apt...

-Marteau of the Sunset Guild

@ask-sunset-guild

#pokelanternrite2025 #shufa #pokemon #ask blog #okay ive cleared all my inbox #they'll be on queue

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not-poignant · 22 days ago

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You get a lot of questions via tumblr. Are those ever a burden to you? Do you feel a lot of pressure to answer?

Yeah I currently have 104 unanswered asks on Tumblr to give you an idea of like, me not being able to get to them all.

Some of it is how AO3 has changed my ability to respond to comments has eaten into my ability to respond to asks. Some of it is that I get a lot of social anxiety around responding to certain kinds of asks. (I like those asks, so I'm not going to say what they are in case people stop sending them lmao).

Most of it is that I realised a few years ago that as fun as responding to asks is, that's not actually my job and because it takes time and often research to respond to some of them, it makes it harder for me to write the stories that folks enjoy in the first place, and that one is probably the biggest reason I no longer pressure myself to answer in the same way.

Some of the asks I reply to, especially the ones that require research that a reader could themselves do in the story (I get asked a few things that are actually often already answered in the story, and I answer them the same way a reader sometimes could: by using control + F with keywords in the story), can take 30-45 minutes to compose. Writing advice asks take a lot longer. Research asks can take a long time too.

I can write a chapter in 2 hours, though I'll be tired afterwards, so I can't do that 4 times a day (especially with editing etc.), but you can sort of see how very quickly, if I get fatigued from writing for 2 hours, sometimes I'm going to have to choose between asks, replying to comments, editing, or writing a chapter.

I love the asks I get, they're not a burden at all, but I do make choices re: prioritising what I have time for, and what I can spend spoons on. I've made myself very sick from overworking, so now I get to asks when I can, and queue them up (if you see an 'administrator gwyn wants this in the queue' then I've actually responded to a bunch at once and they'll come out slowly over time so I don't spam people in 10 minutes and then vanish for months lmao).

I still really enjoy them though, and I'm really lucky to get them. :D

#asks and answers #pia on tumblr #pia on writing #for the most part the asks i get are really awesome #but they are often written very thoughtfully and some will have like #well over 10 questions in them of which many are already answered #and some are really interesting / thought-provoking #and i can spend a long time on those #i think people might be surprised as well how many asks i think about mentally before replying #like this one i kind of mentally considered my reply for a couple of days #i was like 'should i reveal how many asks i have in my backlog'#'ahhh what the hell'#but also i wanted to be clear that the asks themselves aren't a burden #it's just that writing always has a cost #including this kind of writing #administrator gwyn wants this in the queue

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transannabeth · 8 months ago

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hi. for people who saw gatsby: an american myth. do you remember mckee asking nick for lunch. and then gatsby in like the next scene inviting nick for lunch. because i remember.

#not pjo #chitter chatter #when gatsby was like 'we should do lunch' i was like. hello. fucking. hello. are we. hello.#gatsby really said we just met literally 5 minutes ago. come meet my father figure. normal normal thing to do jay.#to be clear gatsby also asks him to go to lunch in the book. but like. there's a time skip. and also #in the show after mckee asks they immediately start making out on the couch. none of this ... nonsense #so the vibes are a LITTLE different in my brain.#i saw a few people say they didnt think gatsby and nick flirted enough and like while i do think that think part of it is we're #in nick's pov but not his HEAD #he DOES start singing about gatsby's smile for no reason until jordon is like. alright buddy. lets talk about daisy.#like nick was just Doing That. pull it together carraway.#but i got the vibe (JUST my take) that gatsby was like. kinda into nick. zero reason to be leaning into his space like that sir.#however when he actually MET daisy again he became kinda singularly focused on her again #i mean he built his whole lifeup to this moment #he says it at the end. he murdered pieces of himself to bring himself here. for DAISY.#him snapping back to daisy mode makes sense to me but he still reaches out for nick as a comfort in the sense that hes like #nick do NOT leave please stay with us. daisy does the same. and ofc part is that theyre really. fucking awkward. but like.#LET ME HAVE MY OWN NONSENSE INTERPRETATIONS. HES TRAPPED BY WHITENESS AND CLASS AND HETEROSEXUALITY.#hes already so much of an outsider trying to fit in. (i also think he loves daisy or an ideal at least. and she's EASIER to love. safer.)#nick inherently has more freedom even as a gay man in the sense that hes richer and white and an ivy league dude i mean you understand righ #right????????#even if its in the book i do wanna point out the parallels between those moments. im choosing to see it as deeply intentional <3 #this show had a lot of repetition and parallels (see daisy and myrtle in a lot of songs and scenes)#(one i LOVE is tom giving myrtle a necklace and daisy later giving TOM her necklace in case he sees anyone he knows. idk love that shit)#im...gonna queue this #im embarrassed to talk about this show so much. so. into the queue it goes!!!#all the worlds a stage #so like. anyway. thats where i think nick's mind immediately went when gastsby asked him for lunch. personal headcanon <3 #gatsby after one convo: we're doing lunch // me and nick immediately: oh ok! guess that's a date then!

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your-fave-is-christian · 1 year ago

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not a request but how's the askbox looking?

Kinda full 😂 127 asks not counting this one right now. I did not expect this blog to get NEARLY this much interaction when I made it, but I'm so glad it's making people happy!!

#queue is set to 5 posts per day and my personal goal is just to add at least 5 to the queue every day 😂#which is honestly manageable. i don't need to clear it out; just keep up with it. and they really don't take long to make #ask #i guess i didn't realize how many other Christians like to headcanon that their favorite characters are Christian too!#i do it so much. we should all continue doing that and talk about it more i think #Christian character headcanon agenda!!! i think we should all continue to headcanon characters as Christian AND #talk about it more and also write about it more and share the headcanons #cause maybe it's just me but i sometimes worried about it that people would get mad at me or i guess just call it cringe #and I'd be nervous to talk about mine just because i was worried other people wouldn't like the headcanon #this blog has made me pretty sure there's an audience 😂😂

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the-lonelyshepherd · 2 months ago

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girls after saying they’re going to be online less for their own safety rip. i cannot escape the allure of this stupid website

#im JUST RESPOSISFUNG TO ASKS AND TAGS . and also maybe cleared out a few little things from the queue and stuff on my dash…..#maybe……#it’s nothing like threatening to me besides the fact that my home situation is rough rn and i really should not be where im not supposed to #shep speaks

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wonder-worker · 9 months ago

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why did the wydevilles and richard III hate each other that much during edward iv's reign?

Hi! To get straight to the point – there is no evidence of hostility between the Woodvilles and Richard of Gloucester before 1483. On the contrary, their relationship during Edward IV’s reign seems to have been cordial and mutually cooperative. Elizabeth made Richard steward of some of her estates in 1469, increased his fee in 1473, and seems to have backed him against Clarence over the Warwick inheritance. Both of them clearly benefitted by Clarence’s downfall. Richard supported her sites of patronage, like Queen’s College, and he included her among those to ask prayers for when founding two new colleges at his northern homes, Bernard Castle and Middleham, in 1478 (we shouldn't see this as a mere formality, as his own mother was not included in the list). He also seems to have been on amicable terms with Elizabeth’s family: in 1481 her eldest son and her brother Anthony served under his command in Scotland; he raised Edward Woodville to a banneret; and in late March 1483 (just a few weeks before Edward IV’s death), Anthony had trusted Richard enough to nominate him as an arbiter in one of his disputes. Richard was also close to Katherine Haute, wife of Elizabeth’s cousin James, giving her a generous annuity from his estates. Historians have theorized she was his mistress as she shared the same name as his illegitimate daughter Katherine, but whatever the specifics of their dynamic, it does indicate closeness. Also, as Rosemary Horrox points out in Richard III: A Study of Service, “the local interests of the duke and the Woodvilles coincided at several points, notably in Wales and East Anglia but also (briefly) in Richmondshire, where the queen’s mother, the dowager duchess of Bedford, held one third of the honour until 1472. Had the two interests been hostile, one would expect some evidence of local friction, but there is none”. Rather, Elizabeth and Richard engaged in independent land transactions with each other – for example, she bought the highly lucrative FitzLewis manors from him.

So while we don't know what they personally felt about each other, we do know that 1) there is no evidence at all of hostility on either side, and 2) the evidence we do have is one of mutual cooperation.

This is important to keep in mind when talking about the events in 1483. Most modern historians (Charles Ross, AJ Pollard, etc) have blamed Edward IV for his son’s deposition by claiming that he failed to reconcile the Woodvilles and Richard during his life, paving the way for tensions to erupt between their so-called factions after his death. Twisted leap of logic aside, this is ridiculously unfair: Edward cannot be blamed for “failing” to remedy tensions which literally did not exist during his life. He was not a prophet; he could not control events from the grave. There is no need to blame him for Richard’s shocking betrayal that we already know contemporaries were not able to foresee. During his life, Edward would have had every reason to believe that his wife and his brother would work together during his son’s minority. And he had good reason to believe this: while conflict between the Woodvilles and Richard did erupt in 1483, it was not inevitable and should not be viewed as such. Rather, in the aftermath of Edward’s death, Elizabeth Woodville seems to have expected to work with Richard. She took the king’s place in listening to his council, and Croyland reports that Richard was sending her deferring letters “[promising] to come and offer submission, fealty, and all that was due from him to his lord and king, Edward V, the first-born son of his brother the dead king and the queen”. Croyland also writes that the new king, Edward V, sent Anthony Woodville and Richard Gray, to “submit the conduct of everything to the will and discretion of his uncle the Duke of Gloucester”. We know that Edward V was planning on having an immediate coronation thanks to a letter he wrote to the burgesses of King’s Lynn, and according to Mancini, who quotes the young king, “as for the government of the kingdom, he had complete confidence in the peers of the realm and the queen [Elizabeth].” Considering what Croyland wrote above, the “peers of the realm” would have surely included his uncle Richard. Indeed, Anthony and Richard Gray trusted Richard enough to walk blindly into a trap; it’s difficult to understand how this was possible or why they weren’t better prepared if they truly disliked Richard (or, for that matter, if they had tried to exclude him from power). It’s possible - imo, very likely - that the Woodvilles would have been the most influential and dominant after Edward V’s coronation; that does seem to have been the view of contemporaries. But since the coronation never took place, and since Elizabeth and her family clearly wanted and expected to work with the council and peers of the realm – including (arguably especially) Richard – it’s not possible to read them as anything other than cooperative. At the very least, based on what we know right now.

I don’t want this post to get too speculatory, because it’s not like we have video recordings of 1483 to know exactly what went down, but my basic point is that going by the information we have, it was entirely plausible for Richard and “the Queen’s kin” (which is what "the Woodvilles" were actually known as to contemporaries, both administratively and in chronicles) to work together. They had done so during Edward IV’s life, and the impression I get is that Eizabeth at least seems to have expected it to continue after his death. Presumably, Anthony and Richard Gray did as well.

I think there are two reasons most chroniclers and historians are so willing to believe the Woodvilles and Richard were "rivals":

One is hindsight: their explosive conflict in 1483 is retrospectively read backwards and applied to Edward IV’s reign as a whole despite the abundance of evidence (see: Anthony trusting Richard to arbitrate a dispute mere weeks earlier) that proves otherwise.

Historically speaking, however, the idea of a rivalry primarily stems from Ricardian propaganda that sought to vilify Elizabeth Woodville, reviving and doubling down on Warwick's earlier propaganda against her. She was framed as a disruptive queen and transgressive woman with an “ignoble” social-climbing family who dominated the government and "controlled" the king. His propaganda at that time also aimed to cast "the Woodvilles as the aggressors and [Richard] as the victim of circumstance", as Horrox has pointed out. Hence why you have Mancini claiming that Richard and Elizabeth hated each other and that her "jealousy" kept him out of court, or why Thomas More claimed that “the Queene and the Lordes of her bloode whiche highlye maligned the kynges kinred (as women commonly not of malice but of nature hate them whom their husbands love)’. This, as we should know by now, is nonsense. The conflict between Richard and the Woodvilles (most probably) originated in 1483 because of the existence of an unexpected minority and because of his actions against them, not by non-existent simmering tensions during Edward IV's reign.

Hope this helps!

*Thomas Gray Marquis of Dorset's alleged boast that "we are so important that even without the king's uncle we can make and enforce these decisions", as quoted by Mancini, is often taken as proof that the Woodvilles wanted ultimate dominance during Edward V's minority. However, there are ... a great many problems with this interpretation. One, we don't know if Dorset actually said something like this: after all, Croyland never claims any such thing in his own chronicle. Additionally, while it was (and is) popularly assumed that Elizabeth and Dorset wished to exclude Richard because they started the council without him, this makes no sense in context: Anthony Woodville, Richard Gray and the young King himself were also not present at that time. Does it make any sense at all to assume that the council was insulting these three figures (again, including the actual King) by convening before they arrived in London? Then why is it automatically assumed that it was meant to be an insult to Richard? Why are more pragmatic reasons never considered? After all, there was a 20+ day gap between Edward IV's death and Richard's arrival in London - governance of the entire country couldn't exactly be put on pause until then. Long story short, it's possible Mancini could misunderstood Dorset's statement/intent or - more likely - that he was unknowingly reflecting Ricardian propaganda specifically aimed to present Dorset in a bad light (as an aggressor who tried to exclude Richard, with Richard merely claiming his "rightful" place). And either way, even if he did say something along those lines, Dorset was not the senior or most influential member of the family: that was Elizabeth Woodville and his uncle Anthony. So Dorset's words - if he actually said something like that - can hardly be taken as evidence that his entire family felt the same, especially since Anthony & Dorset's own brother Richard Gray clearly went to dine with Richard in peace. Especially since we know Thomas obeyed his mother: he went with her into sanctuary, and he apparently tried to return to England from exile as she asked him to after she made a deal with Richard.

**The Woodvilles and Hastings do seem to have been at odds. This didn't stop them from working together during Edward's reign (we have plenty examples of them cooperating, there is no evidence of a divide between them in Edward IV's charters as there was for the Woodvilles & Nevilles in the 1460s, Hastings praised Elizabeth in 1480 and clearly recognized her superior influence with Edward IV, etc), but - unlike the case with Richard - there is genuine evidence of hostility between them. We don't know if this would have mattered as much if Edward V was an adult, or if he'd already been present at London at the time of Edward IV's death. But either way, we shouldn't exaggerate this or act as though it meant Edward V was doomed. It was very normal for different parties/families to have conflicts during minorities; it had happened to pretty much all minor kings prior to 1483, it had never stopped them from working together before, and it sure as hell had never led to usurpation. Moreover, if the Woodvilles and Richard had been able to work together, animosity between the Woodvilles and Hastings would not have mattered. There are indications that cooperation between them was entirely possible: Horrox has observed that the commissions agreed upon by the first council after Edward's death tried to balance out their interests. Lastly, we ... probably shouldn't overexaggerate Hastings' position after Edward IV's death, imo. He was very important and influential, yes, but he was also not a member of the immediate royal family; it's a pretty massive stretch to automatically assume he would have been as relevant as Elizabeth, the Woodvilles, or Richard during Edward V's minority. This can be supported by evidence: after Edward IV's death, his council gathered around Elizabeth, not Hastings; Richard sent messages promising to arrive and swear fealty to her, not Hastings; the final authority when it came to the young king rested with her, not Hastings. Moreover, once Richard and Buckingham came to power, Croyland explicitly states that Hastings wanted to "serve" them and "earn their favor". In other words, he was not leading the council himself. His reaction to Richard & Buckingham and Elizabeth & the Woodvilles may have been the opposite, but either way, the impression I get of Hastings' position in both scenarios seems to have been exactly the same: he was important and influential, but he was not the one in charge. Of course, this is just my personal interpretation - my main point is simply that while the Woodvilles and Hastings may have had problems, at the very least, there is no reason at all to assume this would have affected Edward V's position as King. His deposition was entirely unexpected, and very much the result of Richard's own unprecedented decisions.

#obligatory disclaimer that all of this is based on what we currently know #elizabeth woodville #the woodvilles #richard iii #ask #queue #also to be clear because I've mentioned Mancini's account a bit:#I do think his account has issues (namely its dependence on Ricardian propaganda and tendency to come to his own conclusions)#but it is ultimately invaluable as a contemporary source #both for his own observations and for a contemporary opinion #not getting into it right now in depth but I wanted to clarify that !#(also sorry I wrote this in a hurry so it probably might be incoherent. I'll edit it a bit later when I have more energy let's see)#my post

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